ABOUT DR RAJVINDER KAUR
Some of you may already have met Rajvinder at our Introduction to Ayurveda evening back in April this year (2018). We had great attendance at her Cookery and Nutrition courses in July and October.

You will see that we are re-running Cookery Course 1 and having our first Cookery Course 2 in early 2019. Rajvinder has been
running private consultation days at The Ananta Yoga Studios and this will continue during 2019 with this first one on 16th February.

You may like to avail of one of the initial 1 hour consultations or, for
those who aren’t able to have their follow-up consultations in Dublin, you can avail on a 30 minute consultation. If you are interested in bringing Ayurveda into your life, having a consultation with Rajvinder may be your opportunity.

Ayurveda is for everyone. You do not have to be a yoga practitioner to come along.

WHAT HAPPENS AT AN AYURVEDIC CONSULATION
Ayurveda consultation begins with a Personal Health Evaluation from a qualified practitioner. This takes about 60 minutes, and enables the practitioner to assess your health requirements. The practitioner will give personal advice on a range of methods for improving your health and on natural measures to rectify any underlying imbalances that are identified.

A follow-up consultation is your opportunity to review and discuss your progress and challenges together and to adjust and/or fine tune your daily routine to encourage a long-term Ayurvedic lifestyle.

These may include:
Diet – it is very important to eat food that is right for you, producing balance and comfort
Daily routine – minor changes can sometimes greatly improve your well-being
Life-style – learn what can strengthen your health and what to avoid
Food supplements – supplement the body&#39;s intelligence with the intelligence of nature encapsulated in sophisticated traditional herbal/mineral formulae.
Natural Therapies – including the luxurious Panchakarma revitalization therapy.

Ayurveda consultation offers you the chance to learn more about the nature of your mind/body and how to promote good health and prevent disease. Consultations include pulse diagnosis to determine specific imbalances, recommendations for diet, digestion, herbal food supplements, exercise, daily and seasonal routines
and general guidelines for good health based on your individual physiology.

ABOUT DR RAJVINDER KAUR
Dr Rajvinder Kaur BAMS attained her Bachelor Degree in Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery from Shri Krishna Government Ayurvedic College in the state of Haryana in India. This is a six year degree course covering all aspects of Ayurvedic Medicine. She also has a diploma in Naturopathy and Yoga science and is a qualified Yoga
teacher.

Rajvinder worked in General Medicine in India and specialised in womens health care. She has been in Ireland since 2007 and has become an integral part of Ayurveda ‘’. She trained under the guidance of Dr Donn Brennan and specialises in Ayurvedic treatments and consultations. Rajvinder also runs cookery courses, where her knowledge of herbs, spices and healthy eating comes to the fore.

Rajvinder is also an expert in Yoga, and runs one to one classes, teaching Yoga postures for back pain, healthy heart, weight loss and General pain. She travels to India frequently to update her knowledge and skills.

AYURVEDA
Ayurveda (Sanskrit for knowledge of life or knowledge of longevity is a comprehensive system of traditional health care that emphasizes the relationship between body, mind, and spirit. It is considered to be the traditional system of medicine of India. It is a qualitative, holistic science of health and longevity, a philosophy and system of healing the whole person. Historians have not pinpointed the exact time Ayurveda came into being. Most agree that Ayurvedic classical texts were written in India between 3,500 and 6000 years ago. It is certainly the world’s most ancient system of natural health care.
Over time much of the knowledge of this system became fragmented but, more recently, leading Ayurvedic experts pooled their knowledge into a comprehensive body of knowledge called Maharishi Ayurveda – A prevention oriented, time tested and holistic natural health system.

Ayurveda helps you take control of your life by:
*Giving you understanding of your particular physical and psychological needs.
* Explaining the effects of foods, environment and experiences on your mind and body.
*Providing better understanding to give you the motivation to make the changes needed for better health
* Knowing where you are going wrong, how it affects you, and how you can restore health.
*Offering many strategies for health such as food and lifestyle changes appropriate to you: Transcendental
Meditation, yoga, cleansing treatments, specific herbal and mineral preparations,aromatherapy,music therapy,
etc.- to suit your needs.
*Helping you co-operate with your own innate natural healing mechanisms.

AYURVEDA & YOGA – TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN
The wisdom of Ayurveda determines that each of us are very unique in our constitution and makeup and therefore we all have specific and different needs in the management of our overall health and wellbeing.

Thanks to Swami Vivekananda, yoga came to the West in 1893 and was welcomed by a very receptive audience. While people embraced yoga, its counterpart Ayurveda, was left behind in India.
Yoga and Ayurveda are two very similar paths sharing a close relationship, so closely related that they are often described as two sides of the same coin. Both these sciences, which have their origin
in the Vedic texts, address health and health practices. If Ayurveda is the healing aspect, yoga is the spiritual/practical side of the Vedic teachings.

Together they emphasise a complete approach to the well being of the body, the mind, and the spirit. In fact, their close relationship has even led to some scholars arguing that Patanjali, considered by many to be the father of yoga, and Charaka, often considered as the father of Ayurveda, may have in fact been one and the same person known in Vedic India by different names during his travels to spread the teachings of these ancient sciences.

Both sciences have common underlying principles: the well being of an individual at the level of body and mind and the aim of helping an individual re-connect to their true nature through direct and
personal experience (pratyeksha in Sanskrit). While yoga prepares the body and mind of the individual for eventual liberation and enlightenment, Ayurveda describes the various ways to keep
the body and mind healthy. Both sciences emphasise our close relationship with the environment and how to alter our environment in such a way that it is harmonious with our deepest nature.

In today’s world, yoga is often thought of as “asanas only,” something like a stretching tool to keep the body limber and agile. People are drawn to yoga as a way to keep fit even though the idea
behind the physical practice of yoga is to help the mind to become clear or pure and develop deeper mind-body awareness. A clear mind is not affected by stress and a clear mind produces a healthy
body thus creating a greater connection with ones own pure, essential nature.

Similarly, Ayurveda brings with it the knowledge of how to keep the physical body healthy and how this relates to ones spiritual journey. It addresses our entire lifestyle, including exercise and yoga.
However, Ayurveda is highly individualistic and sees each individual as unique and an individuals path toward perfect health as a unique path. Hence, what is right for each individual is unique to
that individual alone. This could be described as person’s unique genetic background or constitution or dosha in Sanskrit. An individual’s constitution describes who the person is at the most
fundamental level.

The above concept is remarkable because as a result of this understanding, Ayurveda prescribes a unique, “tailor-made” program to each individual based upon his/her constitution and the nature of
the imbalance, and avoids the “one size-fits all” concept that is followed in many systems of healing.

Thus, Ayurveda is based upon understanding individualized needs and what is right only for the individual – not the masses – and fulfilling those needs to bring complete harmony. As with diet, herbs, colors, aromas, etc, Ayurveda sheds light on which specific yoga asanas are best for each individual based on his/her constitution.
With the knowledge of Ayurveda, a practitioner of hatha yoga can refine his/her practice so that it is in harmony with their internal balance of energy.

Some yoga postures are best for one person while others can cause greater imbalance. By knowing ones constitutional balance, an individual can use constitution-specific asanas to reverse their
imbalances and improve their health and wellbeing. Indeed, if we can understand our constitution, we can control our choices and choose only those that will lead us toward optimal health.